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Urban Balcony

Part 1 Project 2003Jose Antonio CardonaHui Min Jan LimNational University of Colombia, Manizales Manizales ColombiaThe site showed since the 30’s a scope defined by casa-quintas (country houses), at present one of then is preserved. Then, part of the old gas station’s structure is recovered, keeping up the small square and the outstanding volume in order to get a public space recovery, as much as its landscape and environmental attributes valuation, significant for pedestrian. And that at present are not valued, provided by a terrace that contains a foods mall and staying places, and the lower part a fancy restaurant with views towards the train’s old viaduct, and de Manizales downtown’s skyline. In the site’s bottom, there is a machine shop, takes a new character and plan scheme for serving teachers and students from Autonoma University.Jose Antonio CardonaHui Min Jan Lim

As natural and cultural heritage integral concept, this project looks for developing methodologies and processes in order to recover, appreciate and keep in memory skyline’s places and characteristics, as town’s signature in the space. In this case one of those called “Urban Balcony” quite characteristic in Manizales -a typical Andean city- and produced by the rugged topography that allows to observe the cultural -urbanistic- architectural near landscape: town’s areas and Villamaria village; also the natural landscape in the magnificent sights towards the central Andes branches, crowned by snowy mounts: Ruiz or Cumanday, Santa Isabel, El Cisne and Quindio and some little high barren plain.The intervention place is defined by a soft curve that finishes before the snowy mounts backdrop.